Shalini's Sewing Space

Wool, Sheep and Silk cocoons! Last Saturday, Jenni and I went to MD Wool and sheep Festival. It was my first time there but she has gone several times before. DH volunteered to drive me to her house. We woke bright and early, had chai and were at her house around 7:45AM. I fell in love with her yard and who could not love Henry? He is the cutest. This was my first time seeing him though it seems like I've watched him grow - from his pictures. CUTE! So we were at the festival before 9AM. The first thing I noticed were people walking back to the parking with plants. There were some plant sellers at the beginning so I bought some (pictures later) and deposited them in the car. Then we were on yarn hunt. Jenni wanted to start at the main barn - that's where the most vendors were so there we went. On the way to the barn we saw the sheep! There was some sheep activity going on but we were on a mission. I was amazed by all the yarn and couldn't help but touch all the lusciousness....

Socks Finished, Socks Started Socks for Girish Stitch = Decorative Rib Work with multiples of 4 Row1: K1b *P3 K1b Row2: K1b *P1 K1 K1b Quick Scarf Stash Report - I love KnitPicks

Posting from Philly I'm here on training for 2 days. I forgot my laptop charger and have to share my co-worker's during the training. Thank goodness for him! So this will be very quick because now I'm back at the hotel - no charger. I miss DH and Mehul so much!! Can't wait to go back home. Sock#2 is coming along great. I should try to finish it in these 2 days because there's nothing else to do here when I'm back at the hotel. I have about 4" of the foot left to do. I ordered a bunch of yarn from KnitPicks the other day. It should be there by the time I return. Yay! I won't have time for sightseeing or visiting any needlework stores. We drive back tomorrow afternoon.

Sock #1 of first pair Started March 2nd - Finished March 8th - It has been a very busy weekend. I had a major deployment starting Friday - March 6. Things went relatively well and we were out of the office at 11PM. Then on Saturday began the testing (UAT). That could have gone smoother but we survived. Done at 7PM. Today we had a family over for tea and chit chat. Between all the deployment worries I had forgotten about DST. We had to set the clock one hour ahead hence losing an hour. I'm so not ready for tomorrow. Apart from the sock knitting, I made 2 types of pickles. I hope they turn out well, it is my first time trying one of them. That one is Lime, Ginger and Green chilly. Spicy and super yummy. The smell had me drooling LOL. This will take a month to get ready to eat. The other one is a mix vegetable pickle that my grandma used to make and I adore - it has carrots, cauliflower, turnips & radish, and it is made in vinegar along with other spices. This one should be ready ...

Knitting finish I tried a Tam. Don't think M will wear it but I wanted to try it. It came out better than I had expected. Seed Stitch Scarf Today it snowed heavily. We got out and took pictures. I shoveled for a few minutes too. Took a few new pictures of M as it had been a while.

Chucky The Hamster DH's boss got her kids a hamster. The hamster gave babies the day after. The boss-lady brought the babies to work. DH got Chucky (formerly known as Gluestick) home :) Working out in his exercise ball Sitting in his food tray and eating Drinking water from the bottle Chucky is pretty down to earth guy. He eats, sleeps and poops. Quality pet time. In crafy news, I finished this scarf some time back - Thistle Stop WIP 1/24/2009 We are surveying schools for Mehul. He is not eligible for public school this year because his birthday is 4 days after the cutoff date so our choices are to do Kindergarten in Private school or KG in current Daycare, or let him do Pre-K again in daycare. We want to do private KG. His daycare has a Kindergarten program too and we might just stay with this daycare. The problem with this daycare is that it is not State Accredited for KG and he will have to give a test to get admission in 1st grade in public school next year. The schools we are ...

2 Days My fastest knitting finish yet! I knit a hat for Mehul in 2 days. Started it during morning commute on Thursday and finished Friday night while returning from IKEA (carpooling with DH is a great thing!). I was home on friday so I got more time for knitting than usual, but still I'm thrilled. That's the good bit, the slightly off bit is that it's too big for Mehul so DH is wearing it! I had done everything right, I even had done a test swatch this time. The pattern suggested this size for 18m-4 yr. There is no way this will ever fit a 3 yr old. As I said, it fits DH. Now I just have to knit another one for Mehul. This confirms my feeling that the patterns in The Knitter's Handy book are too big. I had read this in the book reviews and now it's confirmed for me. I'll be sure to switch to smaller size from now on. I made a boo boo on my sock and now its toe needs frogging. I made the heal and it's perfect. I am getting better at my knitting skills thoug...

TGIF DH took me out to lunch today. That's the benefit of working within 10 minutes of each other. We went to Olive Garden . That's a bit of a drive, but it was a slow day at work. I must have gone there after about 2 years! I used to work in the complex where this restaurant is located and would go there often for lunch, but ever since leaving that company, I haven't been back for some reason. It was nice to go back. Two of my friends came home in the evening and while we were chatting, DH made us some potato-tikki sandwiches. He rarely cooks so it really nice gesture on his part. The tikkis were pre-made frozen ones but still. Tomorrow, I am going with them to Diwali Festival. Should be fun! I haven't been to one of those in years. I am looking forward to the chaat (snacks)! And the dresses too. Why is this post all about food? Moving on to some other topic - Mehul is doing well now. That cough was hard to hear! It sounded much worse than it actually felt (as it says...

Pictures! Let's get right to it. You've already seen my first scarf ever. My second scarf. Look how messy my edges are. They are improving now :) Pattern: Knit 4 rows K3 *(K2tog Yo K) repeat from * K3 Mom made this one. It's plain garter stitch. Same pattern as the one above. Only wider. The picture in the background is a Paint-by-Number done by my sister! I like this one the most. This is in Mehul's school colors and my most recent finish. Love it. Excuse the pillow fibers please! They shed more than my hair. LOL! Pattern: K3 *(K2P1) repeat K3 Knit next row The bootie! A bit tight for Mehul but I love it. I'll be making the other one soon. Ran out of the gray yarn. Pattern : here (pdf) . I didn't add the straps because I am having issues with doing them. Still need to make the other one. Dishcloths. Both started by me and finished by Mom. LOL! I don't like the cotton yarn much. Pattern: Feather and Fan. Can't remember what this pattern is called. I star...

Anyone need a scarf? Parents are gone. We had a 4 day weekend (no holiday, just vacation time). I have been knitting. A lot. DH is very bored and missing *my* parents more than I am. Does anyone else think there is something wrong with that? Besides me. So, in order to distract myself from the emptiness of the house after my parents left on Friday, I started a scarf for Mehul. And this morning, I put the last stitches (knits/purls?) into it. It's the best one yet. Wait till you see it :D Pictures coming soon. There might be a booty in there as well :D I was watching a hindi movie ( Kabhi Alwida Na Kehna ) and started noticing the scarves the actors were wearing. Instantly, I opened photoshop and noted a lot of the ideas. And came up with a bunch of new ones. Now I'm definitely a knitter, right? Because I'm coming up with scarf ideas :) I have plans to make vertical striped scarf and a boxy scarf. And a black and white very stripy scarf. We'll see how far I get. I usuall...